ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3252 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3252 ************************************ 15 Feb 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help developing an authentic name for a woman of Anglo-Norman descent living in the 13th or early 14th centuries, and asked about the name , saying you wanted to use some form of as it's your modern maiden name. Here is what we have found. We haven't found any explicit examples of the feminine name in England, but we did find two examples of the Latin form in 1221 and one in 1258, as well as the abbreviated form in 1255. is probably a pet form of the name or . [1,2] We believe that the vernacular form of was , not . [3] would have been pronounced roughly \ah-VEE-n@\, where \@\ is the sound of in or . There are two likely derivations for the English surname . The most straightforward is the development from the Old English word 'hart', which gave rise to the Middle English word . Examples of this Middle English word used as a byname that we've found include 1166, 1185, 1197, 1220, and 1221. [2] We also found one in 1273, demonstrating that this byname would be a fine choice for a woman in your period. [4] Alternatively, there is a city whose modern name is ; we find this city's name recorded as ca. 1135, in 1321, and sometime between 1438 and 1439. [5] As you can see from all of these various examples, during the 13th and early 14th centuries, the most common spellings of the word are and . However, we have examples of other place names containing a Middle English form of which use the spelling in your period, including [5] Hartford ca. 1188 Harthill 1198 Hartlep 1219 Harthil 1259 Based on this, the byname isn't out of the question for your period, though certainly is more likely. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Ari Ansson, and Wenyeva atte Grene. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 15 February 2007 -- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.nn. Hart, Leffingwell [3] The feminine diminutive suffix <-ina> can be either Romance or Germanic, but in either case its expected reflex in Old French is <- ine>. [4] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Hart [5] _Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society_, Edited by Victor Watts, Edited in association with John Insley, Margaret Gelling (Cambridge University Press: January 2004), s.nn. Hart, Hartford, Harthill, Hartlip